DOT ruling forces LAX to refund fees to U.S. carriers
Andrew Compart, Travel Weekly, 6/19/2007
The Los Angeles airport authority will have to return millions of dollars to U.S. carriers and find another way to raise all the money it says it needs for the increased costs of security and for pending major airport improvements, based on a final ruling issued by the Transportation Dept. June 15.
The DOT did not agree with every recommendation from one of its administrative law judges, who ruled last month that virtually all of the airport's new and increased charges on the carriers in terminals 1 and 3 -- and on carriers in the international terminal -- should be revoked.
But the DOT did agree that some of those charges on the carriers in terminals 1 and 3 are "unjustly discriminatory" because the changes and higher charges did not apply to U.S. carriers operating in other terminals under 40-year leases, the first of which does not expire until 2023.
The airlines with long-term leases include American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United.
The DOT said it will decide within 30 days how much of the airport's new and higher fees, which it had collected retroactively to Jan. 1, 2006, it must return. The airport authority had set aside nearly $24 million in an escrow to pay potential refunds.
Southwest and US Airways operate out of Terminal 1. Alaska, AirTran, ATA, Frontier and Midwest operate out of Terminal 3, as well as five other carriers that did not join the DOT complaint.
In a joint statement, AirTran, Alaska, ATA, Frontier, Midwest, Southwest and US Airways called the DOT's decision "a clear victory for the airlines" over Los Angeles World Airports.
"We're optimistic LAWA's new leadership will see this decision as an opportunity to embark on a more constructive partnership and negotiate a new agreement that is fair and equitable to both the airlines and LAX," the carriers said.
LAWA did not talk about negotiations in its statement and instead accentuated the positives, from the authority's point of view.
LAWA proclaimed it was "gratified" by the DOT decision for upholding "significant elements" of the new rates and charges, including the DOT's ruling that the airport's new maintenance and operations charges are reasonable.
|
